Pro-organizational, class struggle, anarchism (including Platformism) advocates radically-democratic federations built on a revolutionary program. This is counterposed to anti-organizationalist anarchism and to the Leninist program of the centralized, monolithic, "vanguard" party.

Central to pro-organizational/class struggle anarchism is the belief that anarchists should organize themselves according to their beliefs. This particularly applies to those who agree on a program of antiauthoritarian social revolution to be carried out by the international working class and all oppressed people. They should organize a specifically anarchist voluntary association. It would be structured as a democratic federation of smaller groups

This article is followed by some subtantial replies from 'anti-organisational' anarchists.

Over the summer the Zapatistas announced a new strategy but what was it and what does it mean? On the global level the the rebellion in Chiapas was both an inspiration and organisational model for new a generations of anti-capitalist activists. Because of this the change in direction will have repercussions that stretch far beyond Mexico

If the 6th declaration represents a very significant shift in
Zapatista politics to anti-capitalism it also still contains many of
the contradictions between their local organisational methods which are based on self-management and what they appear to advocate at the national level

This article opens by looking at how the meaning of communism as opposed to socialism evolved in the late nineteenth century and closes with a look at how this applies to the free software movement today. It was written for Red and Black Revolution - the magazine of the Workers Solidarity Movement.

Its not that important to get hung up on the name communism, for many people the concise definition of communism being something to do with Marx and the USSR is the one they know. For us the name of the post-capitalist society we aim to help construct is a detail, what matters is the content of the ideas.

What is original in Marx's "Capital" is not the theory of exploitation and surplus value which he inherits from Thompson, but the role of class struggle in limiting the working day and shaping the introduction of productivity-enhancing technology as a response to working class resistance to exploitation. This focus on the historical and contestational dynamics of the process is what gives Marx's work continuing relevance to theorists today, yet it is accompanied by a lack of attention to specifics of the goal of a post-capitalist society. Despite his many contributions, Marx's work on its own represents a backwards step in comparison to Thompson's work when it comes to investigating the social relations of a post-capitalist society.

A lengthy review of the excellent new collection of British libertarian socialist Maurice Brinton's work which has been published by AK Press. Brinton was "the most prolific contributor to the British Solidarity Group (1961-1992), he sought to inspire a mass movement based on libertarian socialist politics... Included here are Brinton's finest essays, pamphlets, eye-witness reportage and his most influential works-Irrational in Politics and Bolsheviks and Workers' Control."

Brinton's perspectives on anarchism were too shaded by his Leninist background and the state of the UK anarchist movement in the 1960s and 70s. While he is right to bemoan the anti-organisational and anti-theoretical tendencies of Russian anarchism he does get basic things wrong. Brinton's dismissal of Kropotkin is based on Avrich's summary of his ideas rather than a reading of the source material.

Ultimately, these are minor issues. The core ideas of Brinton in terms of the importance of self-management, the need for revolutionary theory and practice to take into account all aspects of hierarchical society, his consistency and logic, remain as relevant today as when they were written. Anarchists have a lot to gain from reading this collection.